Seven hanged in Seoul

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33816, 12 April 1975, Page 9

Seven hanged in Seoul

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) SEOUL. Seven underground Leftists sentenced to death for instigating a student-led plot to topple the South Korean Government in April last year were hanged at a Seoul prison on Wednesday, Defence Ministry sources said.

The execution took place a day after their court-martial sentences were upheld by the Supreme Court. The sources said that six officials, including military prosecutors and a chaplain, were present at the execution of Toh Ye Jong, aged 50, head of the outlawed People’s Revolutionary Party and seven other members of the party. One of the officials quoted Toh as saying in his will that he prays for unification of divided Korea under communism.

The Supreme Court yesterday also upheld the courtmartial sentences for 14 other members of the outlawed party, life imprisonment for six and gaol terms of up to 20 years for the rest. All were convicted of instigating a clandestine student body, called the

National Federation of Young Democratic Students, to stage a popular uprising to overthrow the Government and set up a pro-North Korean regime in Seoul. They were rounded up with 32 students and others including a dissident poet, Kim Chiha, and two Japanese nationals under an emergency presidential decree issued in April last year.

Their trial has caused a widespread human rights controversy in South Korea and in the foreign press. Kim, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for involvement in the alleged anti-: Government student plot but released last February under a Government clemency order said after his release that they were tortured by Government investigators and convicted on fabricated charges.